Introduction to UML
(Unified Modelling Language)
Part one Classes and instances
Written by: Robin Beaumont e-mail: robin@organplayers.co.uk
Date last updated: Saturday, 09 July 2011
Version: 1
Introduction to UML
part 1 - classes and instances
How th is d ocu m en t sh o u ld b e u s ed :
This document has been designed to be suitable for web based and face-to-face teaching. The text has been made to
be as interactive as possible with exercises, Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) and web based exercises.
If you are using this document as part of a web-based course you are urged to use the online discussion board to
discuss the issues raised in this document and share your solutions with other students.
Wh o m th i s d o cu m en t i s ai m ed at:
This document is aimed at three types of people:

Those who wish to become involved in systems development but are not interested in the nuts
and bolts of programming. Such people are commonly called domain experts and act as bridges
between a professional group (e.g. medics, Solicitors etc) to which they belong and IT experts.

Those just beginning professional computer science courses.

Those who wish to become involved in some form of analysis activity. This might be Process re-engineering
or Data flow analysis etc.
I hope you enjoy working through this document.
Robin Beaumont
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Contents
1
BEFORE YOU START ............................................................................................................................................ 4
2
LEARNING OUTCOMES -UML CLASSES/INSTANCES ............................................................................................ 5
3
BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................................................... 6
3.1
WHY LEARN ABOUT UML CLASS DIAGRAMS? ............................................................................................................... 6
EXERCISE 1. MCQS.............................................................................................................................................................. 7
4
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................................... 7
5
OBJECT ORIENTED APPROACHES AND UML ........................................................................................................ 8
6
CLASS INSTANCES ............................................................................................................................................... 9
7
CLASSES ............................................................................................................................................................ 10
7.1
DEFINED BY CONTEXT ............................................................................................................................................. 11
7.2
PRESENTATION IN UML .......................................................................................................................................... 12
EXERCISE 2. MCQS............................................................................................................................................................ 13
EXERCISE 3. CLASSES AND INSTANCES .................................................................................................................................... 15
EXERCISE 4. UML CLASSES AND INSTANCES ............................................................................................................................ 15
EXERCISE 5. MCQS............................................................................................................................................................ 16
7.3
IDENTIFYING CLASSES ............................................................................................................................................. 17
7.3.1
Analyzing a Narrative Description to identify candidate classes .............................................................. 17
EXERCISE 6. MARKING NOUNS............................................................................................................................................. 17
7.3.2
Developing candidate Classes ................................................................................................................... 19
EXERCISE 7. IDENTIFYING CLASSES FROM A NARRATIVE ............................................................................................................. 20
7.3.3
Applying naming standards to Classes ..................................................................................................... 20
EXERCISE 8. APPLYING STANDARDS TO CLASSES ....................................................................................................................... 20
7.3.4
Workshops ................................................................................................................................................ 21
7.4
DRAWING UML CLASS DIAGRAMS - CASE TOOLS.......................................................................................................... 21
7.5
CLASS DIAGRAMS AND AMOUNT OF DETAIL SHOWN .................................................................................................... 21
7.6
VIEWS ................................................................................................................................................................. 21
EXERCISE 9. MCQS............................................................................................................................................................ 22
EXERCISE 10. DIFFERENT VIEWPOINTS ................................................................................................................................... 22
7.7
WARNING ABOUT THE ‘IS A KIND OF’ MISUNDERSTANDING ............................................................................................ 22
7.8
TIGHT COUPLING ................................................................................................................................................... 23
EXERCISE 11. INAPPROPRIATE ATTRIBUTES.............................................................................................................................. 23
7.9
CLASS DIAGRAMS AND DATABASES ............................................................................................................................ 23
7.9.1
The Relationship between Classes/Instances to Databases...................................................................... 23
EXERCISE 12. LINKING CLASSES AND INSTANCES TO DATABASES.................................................................................................. 24
7.9.2
Specifying data types ................................................................................................................................ 24
7.9.3
Derived Attributes and Default values ...................................................................................................... 24
7.9.4
Enumerated types ..................................................................................................................................... 24
7.10 OPERATIONS ......................................................................................................................................................... 25
7.11 SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................................ 25
EXERCISE 13. MCQS.......................................................................................................................................................... 26
8
REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................................................... 26
9
WEB LINKS ........................................................................................................................................................ 27
10
APPENDIX - OMT ........................................................................................................................................... 27
You can see Youtube videos of
www.youtube.com/theoldorganplayer
the
concepts
Robin Beaumont robin@organplayers.co.uk
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at
Introduction to UML
part 1 - classes and instances
1 Before you start
This document assumes that you have the following knowledge and skills:
Skills/ knowledge:
You should be able to explain and provide examples of the following database concepts:

table,

record,

index,

foreign key,

relations specifically: one to one, one to many, many to many
If you are unsure of what these terms mean and are unable to provide examples, read through:
http://www.robin-beaumont.co.uk/virtualclassroom/chap7/s2/dbcon1.pdf - provides details of what a table, record
and index are.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access-help/database-design-basics-HA001224247.aspx - Microsofts Database
design basics page, goes further than you need but provides a good section on relations and how they work.
Required Resources
You need the following resources to work through this document:

The “Scenarios for practicing modelling techniques” handout available
from http://www.robin-beaumont.co.uk/virtualclassroom/contents.htm and follow the links

A UML case tool - Many of the concepts introduced in this document are difficult to grasp at first and are helped
by experimenting with a Case Tool in addition to carrying out the exercises with pen and paper. Two such tools
are Visual UML and MagicDraw. You can download a community version of MagicDraw at
http://www.magicdraw.com/. In addition if you are reading this document as part of a course you are
undertaking with the Royal college of Surgeons (Edin) or Edinburgh University you are registered as part of the
academic programme for Magicdraw which means you are entitled to use the full personal edition of MagicDraw.
To be able to use the full personal edition you need to contact your course administrator who has the codes to
unlock MagicDraw.
You can see Youtube videos of
www.youtube.com/theoldorganplayer
the
concepts
Robin Beaumont robin@organplayers.co.uk
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2 Learning Outcomes -UML Classes/Instances
This section aims to provide you with the following skills and information. After you have completed it you should
come back to these points, ticking off those you feel happy with.
Tick
box
Learning outcome
Be able to describe the main characteristics of object oriented modelling

Be able to provide brief details of the relationship between OMT and UML

Be able to describe briefly the history of UML

Be able to describe what an instance is, as used in object oriented (OO) modelling

Be able to describe the three parts of a UML class

Be able to describe the two parts of a class instance (often called an object)

Be able to explain the difference between a UML class instance and a UML class

Be able to describe misunderstanding between UML classes/instances and the 'is a type of' concept

Be able to discuss the importance of context in identifying UML classes

Be able to produce a list of candidate classes from a narrative description

Be able to use Rumbaughs criteria to help refine an initial list candidate classes

Be able to use the Reingruber & Gregory criteria to standardise class names

Be aware of the use of workshops and informal class diagrams to develop UML class diagrams in a group
setting

Be able to identify and draw classes and instances using the UML notation

Be able to explain the relationship between models, classes, attributes, instances, and schemas, tables,
fields and records.

Be able to explain data types, enumerated types and default values are additional characteristics of
attributes

Be able to describe the varying amount of detail that can be displayed in a class diagram

Be able to discuss the concept of “view” as it relates to class diagrams


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3 Background
In the past 30 years the profession of systems analyst (modeller) has come into being and developed rapidly. The first
modelling techniques focused on designing databases, and for an enthralling description of the development of the
first computer system, along with its database for Lyons teashops in the 1950's see Georgina Ferry's excellent book, A
computer called Leo.
In the 1970's Peter Chen, who is very much still alive and continues to produce important research,
(http://www.csc.lsu.edu/~chen/chen.html) developed a diagrammatic description of certain aspects of the data
requirements for a database. The diagram was called an Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) and is still used today, you
may have come across it when using Microsoft Access. The example below shows an example from a database to
collect research data from those who suffer from diabetes and are also pregnant. It represents the data at a high level
of abstraction meaning that it is not necessary to show details of the various fields or indexes, just the table names
(i.e. entity types) and optionally the field names.
Table name=
entity type
Field names
Relation
A database structure consists of one or more Tables
each or which have one of more fields. The tables are
linked to together by relations.
The database is populated with records (i.e the data),
each record has the same structure as a particular
table (not shown).
For more information about ERDs see: www.robin-beaumont.co.uk/virtualclassroom/chap11/s9/erds_1.pdf
While ERDs are useful they are limited and a more modern approach is to use Class diagrams, this more modern
approach is what we will concentrate on in the rest of this chapter.
3.1
Why learn about UML Class Diagrams?
This chapter, along with and several subsequent ones, focus on getting you to learn what class diagrams are and how
to produce them. You may ask why, so here are a few reasons I believe it is important for you to do so:

These diagrams form the basis of most database design methods. If you ever are involved in database design
(i.e. data modelling) you will therefore need to understand them because if they are wrong (i.e. the
blueprint), the database that is built from them will also be wrong!

These diagrams can be transformed to the more traditional ERD to create databases.

These diagrams provide a method of analysing a situation that forces you to adopt a stance of a typical
database modeller. By using them you begin to realise how their minds work and also begin to appreciate
why some databases are so problematic.
These are only a few of the reasons that I personally believe this skill is so important.
Even if you do not intend to become a programmer or systems analyst/modeller you may want to become the type of
person who is able to provide a bridge between your professional group – such as doctor, vet or solicitor – and those
who develop or manage information systems. Such people are vitally important in developing usable information
systems and there is a great shortage of them. Such a person is often referred to as a ‘Domain Expert’ or subject
matter expert (SME)
Before you start to learn what class diagrams are and how to create them yourself there are some Multiple Choice
Questions (MCQs) on the next page to see how much you have taken in so far.
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Exercise 1. MCQs
1. From the list below choose two reasons why it is important for a ‘domain expert’/subject matter expert (SME) such
as you to learn about the Class diagramming method:
a. Provides insight into the mindset of database developers
b. Is the only method available to describe the data requirements
c. Provides credibility to IT personnel
d. Forms the basis of most data modelling techniques
e. Has been proved to be the most cost effective method of specifying data requirements
2. From the list below choose the one option that describes the most desirable ‘domain expert’ from the medical
profession:
a. Someone who has developed several databases but knows little of database modelling or current issues in
medicine
b. Someone who has little interest in how information may help the department
c. Someone who has problems working in a collaborative environment
d. Someone who has previously managed IT projects
e. Someone who has knowledge of data modelling techniques and currently works in the appropriate situation
1. ERDs provide a description of (one correct answer):
a. The processes that occur in the model
b. The various entity types and their relationships in the model
c. The entity types in the model
d. The processes and data requirements of a model
e. The User Interface aspects of the model
2. ERDs provide a (one correct answer):
a. A detailed description of the data within a data model
b. A detailed description of the proposed uses of a database
c. A guide to the training costs
d. A high level description of the data within a data model
e. A graphical picture that is of little use in developing a database
4 Introduction
The process of designing any system, whether it be computer, paper or person based or a mixture of all three, consists
of specifying two important aspects, the what (data - structure) and the how (what it does - behaviour). Considering
the How aspect, a system is worse than useless if it either is difficult to use (e.g. for entering or retrieving information)
or hinders rather than facilitates working practices. For example, if a system is planned to be used in a medical
consultation it should be easier rather than more difficult to prescribe and allow the users to collect data in the way
they would find natural. While this How aspect is as important as the data side of things, we will concentrate on the
'what' side of things in this document.
You may be familiar with ERDs, a graphical technique for specifying the what. However in this document we will be
looking at a more advanced diagramming technique to produce diagrams explaining the What, namely UML Class
diagrams. These diagrams are one aspect of ‘object oriented’ modelling techniques that have developed over the last
few decades. Basically the Object oriented approach allows more complex models to be developed than previously
possible. Before we consider the UML Class diagram in detail we will take a quick look at object oriented modelling
techniques in general and UML.
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5 Object Oriented Approaches and UML
In the early 1990s Rumbaugh as well as M Blaha et al developed a modelling process called OMT (Object Modelling
Technique) which was documented in a book by them called Object-Oriented Modelling and Design, Prentice Hall
1991. This book has taken on the status of a classic and is still available although they have published what can be
considered to be an update to this in 2005 – Object Oriented Modelling with UML .
So what are Object Oriented Modelling techniques and how do they relate to this thing called UML? Object oriented
modelling relies heavily upon the following five ideas (concepts), which allow us to model aspects of the world in a
logically consistent manner. Notice this is much wider than just database modelling:





Classes and Objects
Association
Inheritance
Encapsulation
Polymorphism
Object Oriented
Techniques
OMT -> UML
In this chapter we will concentrate on the first aspect, although we will have a glance at the others in passing. So how
does UML relate to Object Oriented Modelling? The answer is basically historical.
In 1998, Rumbaugh joined forces with Grady Booch and Ivar Jacobson, who also have their own Object Oriented
Modelling languages, to create a Unified Modelling Language (UML). That year saw a burst of activity with several
books being published describing UML (Fowler & Scott 1998, Blaha & Premerlani 1998), UML not only subsuming
Rumbaugh's OMT but also expanding it with new diagrams. Since this time UML has gone through a number of
revisions with the most recent being version 2.4 (Around May 2011). I have therefore decided not to discuss OMT and
the earlier versions of UML. The specification of the latest version of UML can be found at http://www.omg.org/.
UML is definitely the "in thing" and if you look in any computing/ modelling/system development section of most
large bookshops you will find a row of books about UML. Three that I would recommend are:
Simon Bennett, John Skelton, Ken Lunn, 2005 UML: Schaum’s outlines. ISBN 0-07-710741-1 £10.99 [A much improved second edition – no cd but
what can you expect at this price]
Thomas A Pender: 2002 UML Weekend crash course. ISBN 0-7645-4910-3
[Also contains a CD with a pdf version of the book and a 15 day demo version
of System Architect version 8.5 Costs about £15 – 20]
Class
These diagrams focus on
specifying the structure
(WHAT) of the model
Diagram
Component
Diagram
Composite
Structure
Diagram
Structure
Diagram *
Deployment
Diagram
Object
Diagram
Package
Diagram
Diagram
Activity
These diagrams focus
on specifying the
Behaviour (HOW) of
the model
Diagram
Sequence
Use Case
Diagram
Diagram
Communication
Behaviour
Diagram
State Machine
Diagram
Diagram
Interaction
Overview
Interaction
Diagram *
Diagram
Timing
Diagram *
You can get second hand copies of the above books for far less
by looking on www.addall.com, www.Amazon.com and
www.amazon.co.uk Only the Bennett books talks about uml2
in detail.
UML provides a standard set of tools (most of us would call
these diagrams – but the UML people get upset if you reduce
them to such things!) for analysing and developing a model
using an Object Oriented Approach. UML is not a method, you
are free to use which tools (diagrams) you feel are appropriate
and at the appropriate points you decide during the process.
However this does not mean there is no relationship between
the various diagrams; one of the most important aspects of a
CASE TOOL is how it manages the relationships that exist
between them as specified in the UML. Few if any modellers
use all the diagrams; it depends upon the specific project and
the personal preferences of the modeller.
Fowler 2004, p.12 has a nice diagram showing the various
diagrams in UML (version 2) taken from the formal UML
specification document; the greyed out boxes represent the
classification of the diagrams. In UML version 2 there was 13
different diagrams, and now in UML2.4 14 diagrams:
In this and the following chapter we will focus on the Class
diagram, probably the most important diagram in UML. But to
help you understand what classes are we will look briefly at
class instances (Objects) first.
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If you want a quick overview of UML and the various diagrams see:
http://www3.software.ibm.com/ibmdl/pub/software/rational/web/whitepapers/2003/intro_rdn.pdf or http://www128.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/769.html Please note that both these sites by providing a very
superficial overview make many technical errors - but they do provide a starting point.
6 Class instances
So what is a class instance in the context of 'object oriented modelling'?
A class instance (often called an object in UML but I avoid this term) is best thought of as a definable thing with a
number of facets that results in us perceiving it as something that is distinct.
What are these facets? well in biology people often talk about something having form and function, we can think of
the 'descriptive' side of things as being data (e.g. a person having a name, age, hair colour and address etc) and the
'function' side of things as being activities (e.g. washing hair, giving birth, going shopping etc). Moreover, the data
(structure) and activities (behaviour) are inextricably linked in our conceptualisation of the instance. If the instance
should change either its activities or characteristics it exhibits, we feel distinctly uneasy. In other words, when we
conceptualise an instance in the world, we do not naturally divide it out into these two aspects. To do this requires
skill.
For example, when we see something we like, we tend to think of both actions as well as its characteristics (data),
when one thinks of a banana or a bowl of soup, not only do both have pleasant characteristics such as colour and
smell but they also have pleasant actions associated with them such as the soup being made (created, the default
operation all instances possess) and eaten, and the banana growing and ripening, thinking of something more
complex such as a Person, instances of this would be far more complex..
Class instances - Objects - UML 2.4
Attribute names typically begin
with a lowercase letter. Multiword
names are often formed by
concatenating the words, each
subsequent word starting upper
case
instance name:class name
In uml v1.4 onwards you do not show the
operations compartment in class instance
diagrams
(see Pender 2002 p142)
Attributes=value
No spaces &
underlined
Examples:
mySoup:Soup
id:84739
mary:Person
Class name capitalised
instance name lower case
country of origin=uk
age=20yrs
hair=grey
washing hair=yes
shopping=no
eating=No
flavour=good
john:Person
myBanana:Banana
decomposing=no
age=34yrs
hair=Brown
washing hair=No
shopping=No
eating=yes
age =21 days
variety=Costa rican yellow
flowering=no
growing= no
moving= no
Each of these characteristics
has a value = therefore this is an
instance
each attribute+value is
called a slot
From the above we can say that we have two instances of class, Person and one each of class banana and soup. So we
can have any number of instances for a particular class.
In the context of 'instance modelling' a class instance is therefore something in the investigator's mind that usually
possesses a recognisable number of both characteristics (data consisting of data items) and actions. As in all areas of
computer science, one word is never enough; and UML uses the word 'attribute' instead of data or characteristic.
The diagram above shows how class instances are drawn in UML. Each class instance is divided into two sections:


The top box gives the name of the class instance along with its class name
(more about that below).
The bottom section lists each attribute along with its value, where each line is called a slot.
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All the above examples of class instances indicate that the attributes have values suggesting that the class instance
exists in some way and because of this it often means class instances are called ‘real world things’ but this can be
misleading.
If you know about ERD diagrams you may be thinking that the concept of a class instance is very similar to that of an
Entity Instance. In fact you would not be far from wrong; however, the class instance concept also has the concept of
Operations within it, they are just not shown in the instance diagram.
In the above section we have discussed instances of Classes now we will investigate the actual Class concept..
7 Classes
The best way to think of a class is to think of the blueprint idea. A class is often called a concept, although
philosophers argue about the differences. Many theorists have provided complex definitions of a class or entity type,
which is a similar idea, but none are complete or infallible. Hopefully by
Banana
the end of this section you will be able to conceptualise what a
A Class
class is in this context even if you still won't be able to provide a
age
definition
for it.
variety
flowering
Chen, one of the early writers (circa 1970), felt that the task of class identification (he
growing
was talking about 'entity types' at the time, as instance modelling had not been
moving
developed) was best left to the individual who was within, and who knew most about,
flower()
grow()
move()
the system to be modelled. This suggests that classes are partially dependent upon
the person who is identifying them, and this will become clear as you work through
this section. The domain expert / subject matter expert (SME) plays a vital function
between the end user and IT/ programmers defining and correctly modelling classes.
What then is a class? A class can be thought of as an abstraction from the instance. Notice that in the examples
concerning instances a single banana was described. The instance 'mybanana' is said to be an instance of class
banana. Similarly John is said to be an instance of class Person and “mysoup” an instance of class soup. Notice that
while the class person could exist without any instances, the reverse is not true. We say that an 'instance' is an
'instantiation' of a class. This may appear rather pedantic but it is very useful in modelling as it provides a method of
classifying groups of things often in very useful ways.
Basically:

Class = Template

Instance = Example of a particular class
All instances of a particular class must have the same structure
as the class
The rest of this section will be concerned with identifying and organising Classes.
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7.1 Defined by context
Below are some examples of classes and instances for three different contexts:
A typical general practitioner planning on collecting information about patients:
Class
Some possible instance(s):
Doctor
Name=Angus Wallace. Residence= living in the UK
Patient
Name=Joe Bloggs, Town=Newcastle ,
Name=Alan Smith, Town= London
Visit
Time=12/06/2001/4pm location+Prospect House Newcastle
Prescription
Drug=Valium, dosage=5mg. Frequency= eight times a day
Advice leaflet
Title=Chronic back pain leaflet
Title=UTI self management
The university administrator thinking about developing a course database:
Class
Some possible instance(s):
Module Coordinator
Name=Robin Beaumont,
Name=Joe Brand
Student
Name=Paul Whatling
Name=Mary Brown
Name=Anne Smith
Tutor
Name=Ruth Brown
Module
Title=Introduction to Informatics, year=2003
A garage collecting detailed information about car components:
Some possible instance(s):
Class
Spark Plug
Make=Rover, model=49532
Engine
Escription=122 Brake Horsepower
Cooling system
Capacity=17 pints
Gearbox
Second gear ratio= 7.55:1
Propeller shaft
Type=Hardy Spicer
Are the above examples correct?
While the above examples probably list a selection of the important classes for each of the contexts, there is no
absolute way of being able to say they are correct. Rumbaugh et al (1991, p21) makes this important point when
discussing class identification:
“We define a class as a concept, abstraction, or thing with crisp boundaries and meaning for the problem at hand.
Classes serve two purposes: they promote understanding of the real world and provide a practical basis for computer
implementation. Decomposition of a problem into classes depends on judgment and the nature of the problem. There
is no one correct presentation.” [edited slightly]
This is clear from considering the last example concerning car component details. Assume that another garage owner
who was less concerned with collecting detailed information about each component only wanted one item of
information recorded for each component. In this instance we would probably have CAR as the class and each of the
classes listed above relegated to attributes of the CAR class. There is no definitive correct answer; we only know by
talking to the actual garage owner. Classes are largely defined by the context.
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7.2 Presentation in UML
Computer scientists, whenever possible, use diagrams or symbols rather than words. This is because words are
considered to be the most ambiguous form of communication or more probably because most computer scientists are
notoriously poor at English. The diagram below shows how UML would possibly represent several of the classes
described previously:
In the diagram each box represents a class. The box is divided into three sections. The top section of the box provides
the name of the class, usually a noun. The next section down provides details of the data (attributes or data items) in
the class while the last and final section provides names of the activities (methods) that make up the class. While the
first two examples -- Person and Banana -- are relatively easy to define in this way, the third is more difficult. This is
probably because Soup has a large number of attributes but has very few activities. The only one l could think of,
besides the generic ‘create’ which all classes have, how else would you create instances? is the process of
decomposing when it's left too long, possibly ‘heat up’ might be another. Not all classes have actions (other than the
generic ‘create’ and 'destroy'), but all must have a name and something that uniquely distinguishes them from
another class. Because instances are just instances of a particular class, these rules apply to them as well.
In this chapter we will concentrate on class diagrams rather than instance diagrams; these being more general, they
tend to be more useful. However, instance diagrams are useful if you want to investigate a particular situation.
Classes (UML 2.0)
characteristics
Class name
Class name capitalised
Not underlined
Attributes: (data items)
Operations
behaviour
Examples:
Person
Banana
Soup
age
hair
washingHair
shopping
eating
age
variety
flowering
growing
moving
id
country of origin
flavour
decomposing
washHair()
shop()
eat()
flower()
grow()
move()
decompose()
Attribute names typically begin with a lowercase letter.
Multiword names are often formed by concatenating
the words, each subsequent word starting upper case
UML2.0 infrastructure specification p.121 adapted
If you know about ERD diagrams you may be thinking that classes and Instances (instances) are the same as Entity
Types and Entity Instances however Classes and instances are far more complex because they possess operations as
well as attributes.
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Introduction to UML
part 1 - classes and instances
We will now take a specific example, assume that we have decided to propose that a valid class would be one named
Doctor firstly we need to consider if this is a valid class, again context comes into play if we were creating a model for
a general purpose employment agency we would probably have a more generic class such as client, with thewre
profession as an attribute in the class, however if we were modelling a GP practice or hospital we would have Doctor
as a specific class. Assuming we have the latter situation:
Doctor
Why is this a class?
surname
forename
dob
GMC_no
salary
gender
examine
question
diagnose
request_test
Because it as a name
Because it has a set of unique attributes i.e. surname, forename, date of birth, GMC
number, salary, gender etc.
And a unique set of operations i.e. examine, question, diagnose, request test etc.
Why is this a class rather than an instance?
Because it possesses these attributes and operations but they do not have specific values
'Unique' here means different from any other class in the model
Sarah_smith:Doctor
Why is this an instance of the Doctor Class?
surname=smith
forename=sarah
dob=19/12/1956
GMC_no=39200456
salary=89K
gender=m
Because it has the same set of attributes as the doctor class i.e. surname, forename,
date of birth, GMC number, salary, age etc.
And each attribute has a specific value
Because it has the same set of operations as the doctor class (not shown in
instance/object diagram)
Another way of thinking about the bond between a class and instance is to think of the class as being the column
headings (= attributes + operation names) for a number of rows each of which is an instance of the class. For example
Doctor
surname
forename
date of birth
GMC number
salary
gender
examine
Request test
smith
Dow
19/12/1956
39200456
89K
male
yes
Blood for culture
Coates
Jill
03/05/1966
5748337
67K
female
no
Knee x ray
Worsley
Alan
11/07/1970
578493
80K
male
no
Barium enema
Six attributes shown
Two operations shown
Exercise 2. MCQs
1. Which one of the following is an example of a class:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Robin Beaumont
Carrot
Date's book An Introduction to Database Systems on my shelf at home
Spike from the TV series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
My backup disk (in the second drawer of my desk)
2. Which one of the following is an example of an instance of a class:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Course Manager
Health Informatics courses
Women
Tony Blair
Religion
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Doctor class
with 3 instances
Introduction to UML
part 1 - classes and instances
This is how I arrived at the answers for the exercise on the previous page
1. Which one of the following is an example of a class:
a.
Robin Beaumont could be:
First_name
robin
Tony
b.
Class / instances. Possible Class name: carrot
Germination_date
Seeding_position
manufacturer
04/09/2011
Plot4
thomsons
04/09/2011
Plot2
thomsons
Instances
taste
Honey sweat
sharp
etc
...
Spike from the TV series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
Class / instances. Possible Class name: buffy character
name
character
First appearance
James Marsters
spike
1997
Seth Benjamin Gesshel-Green
Seth Benjamin Gesshel-Green
1998
e.
etc
...
Date's book An Introduction to Database Systems on my shelf at home
Class / instances. Possible Class name: Book
name
author
publisher
date
UML for beginners
beaumont
Brewester_brown
01/02/2016
An intro to databases
date
wiley
??
d.
etc
...
Carrot could be:
Variety
Old_red
Tonys_special
c.
Attribute names
Class / instances. Possible Class name: person
surname
dob
Mobile_1
email
beaumont
12/05/87
0798675664
you@me.com
Milner
05/09/1967
0978675
tony@me.com
Last appearance
2003
2001
etc
...
My backup disk (in the second drawer of my desk)
Class / instances. Possible Class name:
name
size
manufacturer
Backup1
5.25
imac
My_backup_disk
3.25
dozik
Backup3
5.25
imac
Backup4
3.25
dozik
backup_disk
date
02/09/2010
10/09/2006
02/09/2010
10/09/2006
etc
...
So from the above only the carrot is at the class rather than instance level, the relevant entries are shaded yellow. A
similar approach can be taken to the second exercise
2. Which one of the following is an example of an instance of a class:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Course Manager - This is probably a class with a name attribute.
Health Informatics courses - This is probably a class with attributes such as title, start_date etc
Women - This is probably a class with attributes such as gender, surname dob etc
Tony Blair - This is probably an instance of Human or Prime minister
Religion - This is probably a class with attributes such as name, leader, estimated number of followers etc
While the table format is nothing to do with UML it does help to understand the link between the class and its zero or
more instances
All instances of a particular class must have the same structure
as the class
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Introduction to UML
part 1 - classes and instances
Exercise 3. Classes and Instances
Spend five minutes filling in the tables below. List some possible classes along with examples of their instances. Some
of your classes may have no or several instances. The important thing is that each instance possesses the same set of
attributes as the entity type.
Class name:
Attributes names:
Attributes values:
Class name:
Attributes names:
Attributes values:
Class name:
Attributes names:
Attributes values:
Exercise 4. UML Classes and Instances
Part A
Consider your job to be a class. If you do not have a paid job, you may be a student for example, then use that instead.
List two of your (clinical) activities along with the information about them which you feel would be useful to collect. If
it helps, consider it in the context of a learning log book of some sort.
Part B
Draw a diagram that represents the following classes: community nurse, GP, clinical manager in a hospital, day care
coordinator, director of finance in an acute trust (hospital outside the UK), patient, yourself and your boss.
Part C
Draw an instance diagram that represents an instance of some of the classes you described in the above tasks.
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Introduction to UML
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Exercise 5. MCQs
1. Which of the following provides the best description of a Class (select one)?
a. A specific concrete object with a defined set of processes (e.g. John Brown with diabetes)
b. A value given to a particular attribute (e.g. height - 230 cm)
c. A thing that we wish to collect data about where one or more, real world examples of it exist
d. A template for a group of things with the same set of characteristics that may exist in the real world
e. An undefined concept that needs further clarification
2. Which of the following provides the best description of a class instance (select one)?
a. A specific concrete object with a defined set of processes (e.g. John Brown with diabetes)
b. A value given to a particular attribute (e.g. height - 230 cm)
c. A thing that we wish to collect data about where one or more, real world examples of it exist
d. A template for a group of things with the same set of characteristics that may exist in the real world
e. An undefined concept that needs further clarification
3. From the following list, select two class instances:
a. Steinway piano model D design template
b. McGill type forceps as used in surgical operations
c. Tony Blair ( British prime minister)
d. PIII type chip that is found in many modern PCs
e. An advice leaflet for chronic back pain issued to Mrs Smith on 02/10/2002
4. Which one of the following statements is true (select one)?
a. A UML class diagram can only display class names.
b. Attributes are a rarely considered aspect of classes.
c. Attributes must always be displayed in UML class diagrams.
d. Attributes equate to table names in a database.
e. Attributes can optionally be displayed in UML class diagrams.
5. Select from the following the best list of attributes for the class SHOE for someone working in a shoe shop (select
one answer):
a. 1, 2, 6
b. 1, 2, 6, 3
c. 1, 2
d. 1, 6
e. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
6. Select from the following the best list of attributes for the class
RECIPE for someone following a recipe at home (select one):
a. 4, 5, 7, 8
b. 4, 5
c. 4, 5, 6
d. 4, 5, 8
e. 4, 5, 6, 8
Robin Beaumont robin@organplayers.co.uk
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1=size
2=number of lace holes
3=propulsion
4=cooking time
5=number of portions
6=material colour
7=volume (loudness)
8=cooking temperature
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Introduction to UML
part 1 - classes and instances
7.3
Identifying Classes
While there is much written concerning UML and Class diagramming theory, far less has been written about actually
developing the models. Two of the most common ways of identifying classes for developing UML class diagrams are:

Narrative descriptions of requirements

Workshops
Both of the above methods rely to some extent on expert domain knowledge to identify and classify classes. We will
now look at the first method, using a narrative description of the system requirements on which to base the
development of a UML class diagram.
Rather than give a brief description of each stage and then visit each in turn, I will just take you on a journey and then
reflect upon what we will have done in a summary at the end. So now let’s start with the narrative description.
7.3.1 Analyzing a Narrative Description to identify candidate classes
Frequently the first thing to be produced when someone has the idea of developing a model (also called "the system"
or "database" below) is a paper document describing what he or she wants. This often includes something like the
following:
We wish to develop an information system for our hospital in which:
“Patients are treated in a single ward by the doctors assigned to them. Usually each patient will be assigned a single
doctor, but in rare cases they will have two. Patients either pay for their treatment directly or through an insurance
company.
Healthcare assistants also attend to the patients, and a number of these are associated with each ward.
Initially the system will be concerned solely with drug treatment. Each patient is required to take a variety of drugs a
certain number of times per day and for varying lengths of time.
The system must record details concerning patient treatment and staff payment. Some staff are paid part time, and
doctors and care assistants work varying amounts of overtime at varying rates (subject to grade).
The system will also need to track what treatments are required for which patients and when, and it should be capable
of calculating the cost of treatment per week for each patient.
When users use the system they will be able to print out as well as view on screen the results. (Although it is currently
unclear to what use this information will be put.) “
(taken from http://www.umsl.edu/~sauter/analysis/er/er_intro.html and expanded)
The first stage is to pick out all the nouns (names) in the above passage; this provides a good baseline from which to
consider possible entity types.
Exercise 6. Marking Nouns
Mark in the above narrative all the nouns (names) you see.
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You can see in bold below the possible set of nouns (names) that I have come up with:
“Patients are treated in a single ward by the doctors assigned to them. Usually each patient will be assigned a single
doctor, but in rare cases they will have two. Patients either pay for their treatment directly or through an insurance
company.
Healthcare assistants also attend to the patients, a number of these are associated with each ward.
Initially the system will be concerned solely with drug treatment. Each patient is required to take a variety of drugs a
certain number of times per day and for varying lengths of time.
The system must record details concerning patient treatment and staff payment. Some staff are paid part time and
doctors and care assistants work varying amounts of overtime at varying rates (subject to grade).
The system will also need to track what treatments are required for which patients and when and it should be capable
of calculating the cost of treatment per week for each patient.
When the users use the system they will be able to print out as well as view on screen the results. (Although it is
currently unclear to what use this information will be put.)”
(taken from http://www.umsl.edu/~sauter/analysis/er/er_intro.html and expanded)
Gathering together all the above nouns produces the following list, not in any specific order:
Candidate classes
Patients
System
Doctors
Users
Healthcare assistants
Cost
Care assistants
Time
Ward
Day
Drug treatment
Lengths
Drugs
Details
Patient treatment
Overtime
Treatment
Rates
Staff payment
Grade
Staff
Week
Insurance company
Results
Screen
Use
Information
Each of the above nouns can be considered to be a 'candidate class'. The next stage is to consider which of these are
appropriate classes to include in the UML class diagram. To do this we consider Rumbaugh et al (1991 p152-3,
repeated in Blaha & Rumbaugh 2005 p 185 -6) criteria.
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Introduction to UML
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7.3.2 Developing candidate Classes
Rumbaugh et al (1991 p152-3, repeated in Blaha & Rumbaugh 2005 p 185 -6) provides some guidance as to how to
identify appropriate classes. He suggests that you consider the following issues:

Redundant class types Two class types may express the same information (i.e. two names for the same
concept, or synonyms). In the above example DOCTORS and HEALTHCARE ASSISTANTS (HCA) might be
considered to be just class instances of the class called STAFF; however, this is unlikely in the above example
because we know from our own expert domain knowledge that doctors are concerned with prescribing
whereas healthcare assistants are not, they therefore have different activities, furthermore some of the
attributes will be different, doctors possess a GMC number whereas HCA's do not. In addition the
information we plan to collect is specifically concerned with prescribing. We therefore consider the class type
STAFF to be redundant, at least for the time being; possibly when the system is developed further such
considerations can be re-visited.

Irrelevant class types If an class type has little or nothing to do with the problem, it should possibly be left
out. In the above example one would need to clarify with the person requesting the system if they need
information stored about INSURANCE COMPANIES. Also if the system is initially only concerned with drug
treatments, is there any point collecting information about other treatments?

Vague class types In a narrative description, often words are used indiscriminately. In the above example the
description states that “Initially the system will be concerned solely with drug treatment” yet the following
paragraphs refer to PATIENT TREATMENT and also TREATMENT. Are these three different class types or not?
Again we can only find out by discussing this issue with the person who requested the database. We would
probably suggest that we have two class types called DRUG_TREATMENT and NON_DRUG_TREATMENT
where NON_DRUG_TREATMENT is concerned with information about any non-drug intervention and
probably not included in the initial class diagram.

Class types that are really attributes Often an initial class type is an attribute. In the above, COST has been
classified as a possible class yet it is probably an attribute of NON_DRUG_TREATMENT or DRUG_TREATMENT
or PATIENT (renaming it BILL).

Multiple roles become class types "The name of a class type should reflect its intrinsic nature and not a role
that it plays. For example, OWNER would be a poor name for a class type in a car manufacturer's database.
What if a list of drivers is added latter? What about persons who lease cars? The proper class is PERSON (or
possibly CUSTOMER), which assumes various different roles, such as owner, driver, lessee." (Blaha &
Rumbaugh 2005 p 186). Similarly a doctor is not just a prescriber but a treatment giver and a reviewer of
results.

Implementation information The Class diagram is concerned with defining the data that needs to be stored.
It is not concerned with the hardware or processing of the data. Therefore, in the above example SYSTEM,
SCREEN and USER can be ignored. Similarly RESULTS are an outcome of processing data. Perhaps from your
knowledge of Access or other databases, you will realise that such things as RESULTS and reports are just a
process of using a query or report tool to interrogate the model.
Another type of problem results from the existence of homonyms. This is where the same noun in the narrative
actually means different things in different places.
For example the phrases "take a variety of drugs" and “Initially the system will be concerned solely with drug
treatment” both contain the word DRUG but when you think about this where the word appears in the first phrase it
is probably referring to the actual bottle of pills (i.e. 29 Ampicillin capsules prescribed to Mr smith on 29/05/2014) or a
specific bag of intravenous fluid that is given to a specific patient however in the second phrase it is probably referring
to all Ampicillin given to all patients or even possibly all the ampicillin allocated to a specific hospital ward but not
necessarily consumed. The word DRUG_TREATMENT seems to describe the first situation and DRUG the second, but
this would need further investigation. Similarly as we have discussed above TREATMENT has several meanings and it
may be necessary to add one or more additional classes to express the different concepts more clearly (e.g.
DRUG_TREATMENT, DIETARY_PRESCRIPTION and ART_THERAPY etc).
So what have we ended up with after all the above deliberations? The following is the revised list of classes, for a very
simple first attempt which we will obviously expand:
PATIENT, DOCTOR, DRUG_TREATMENT, DRUG
By concentrating on the drug aspect of treatment and considering each of Rumbaugh’s guidelines we have reduced
the list from 27 to 4 for a possible initial UML class diagram. However I'm sure that in future developments a large
number of other classes with be added or reinstated!
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Introduction to UML
part 1 - classes and instances
Exercise 7. Identifying Classes from a Narrative
Time: 60 minutes
Look through the Radio station scenario, found in the scenarios handout, and:
1. Mark all the nouns and produce a list of them.
2. Using Rumbaugh’s guidelines revise your list to identify candidate classes.
7.3.3 Applying naming standards to Classes
While the previous page was concerned with identifying classes, we will now look at one of the many informal naming
standards suggested, this one is by Reingruber & Gregory 1994 (p65-77).
Class names:
Should be unique for the particular model. (This does not usually apply to attribute names which only need to be
unique to a particular class)
Should be a singular noun (e.g. PATIENT not PATIENTS).
Should be self-explanatory to those reading the UML class diagram.
Should follow any naming conventions locally defined by the modellers. For example, two common constraints
are that:
 They should be written in UPPER CASE.

Possible spaces should be represented by the _ character (eg DRUG_TREATMENT rather
than DRUG TREATMENT).
Should not be a name of an individual instance (e.g. Freeman Hospital Newcastle upon Tyne).
Should not express more than one concept (e.g. EQUIPMENT/BED).
Should be documented in addition to the diagram The description for each class should be clear, unambiguous
and supplemented with examples of instances.
When carrying out this process it is a good idea to draw up a table similar to the one below to make sure you carry out
the process, the initial proposed class type name on the left and the final class type name on the right.
Initial class
type name:
Unique
Singular
noun
Selfexplanatory
UPPER
CASE
The _
character
Not a
individual
object
Not more than
one concept
Documented
Final class
type name
Patients
Doctors
Drug
treatment
Drugs
Exercise 8. Applying standards to Classes
Time: 60 minutes
1. Looking back at the hospital example, consider the following four possible classes. Use the above guidelines to edit
them appropriately:




Patients
Doctors
Drug treatment
Drugs
2. Revisit the initial set of classes you defined for the Radio station scenario and edit them accordingly. It may help to
draw up a table similar to the one above.
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Introduction to UML
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7.3.4 Workshops
The alternative to using a paper document to partially derive a set of classes is to hold a series of interactive
workshops. This requires commitment, including the willingness to learn, from the person(s) who have requested the
system (i.e. database). They need to understand to a limited extent what you are learning now!
Often a mixed approach can be taken, using a paper document as the starting point, to a workshop. Running
workshops requires good group working skills, and must be carried out in a non-threatening manner. Often the
modellers need to show considerable tact when people get hung up on what the modellers themselves know to be
irrelevant issues (e.g. font size/colour, type of screen or computer etc) for the particular task at hand.
Now that we have looked at how to create an initial list of classes we will consider the actual mechanics of drawing
UML class diagrams
7.4 Drawing UML class diagrams - Case tools
It must be remembered that systems modelling, of which UML is one particular aspect, is a discipline that has only
been in existence for about a quarter of a century. I was recently looking at a book on systems analysis written in 1984
(Daniels & Yeates) and only 2 of the 300 pages was dedicated to a similar topic of databases, and within those two
pages no mention was made of diagramming.
To begin with learning to draw UML class diagrams is usually a pen and paper exercise and I would strongly encourage
you to practice using this simple technique at the start - be warned you'll also need a large rubber! Drawing informal
UML class diagrams and discussing them is a very good way of developing them in a measured and appropriate
manner, flip charts, or electronic white boards are excellent in this respect.
Other documents on my web site provide detailed tutorials on how to use specialised software (called case tools) to
draw UML class diagrams. http://www.robin-beaumont.co.uk/virtualclassroom/contents.htm
7.5 Class Diagrams and Amount of Detail Shown
In a uml class diagram, varying degrees of detail of a class
can be shown. Sometimes all that is shown is the class
name. Alternatively the class name and attributes are
shown, or alternatively both the attributes and operations
are shown.
Class name
Attributes
Operations
Can be dispayed
as:
Class name
or
7.6 Views
Class name
Attributes
or
Class name
Attributes
At the beginning of this document it was stated that the
identification and description of Classes/instances was
Operations
partly a matter of individual interpretation. This is clear
when one considers the examples given above. Now
considering the NHS, a patient as perceived by a hospital chaplain is a very different instance from that perceived by a
director of finance. If you asked each to draw a Class diagram like those given on the previous pages, each would
come up with a different set of data and activities.

A model is always context specific.

It is never purely a reflection of reality - whatever that is!
It is interesting to note that a large amount of effort in the modelling process is directed towards getting these
differing views consolidated in some way. The potential problem is tackled in different ways depending upon the
particular software development lifecycle chosen. Frequently a stakeholder or cultural/political analysis is carried out
to see how important each of the views are, thus allowing a way to prioritise one view over another. Another method
is used during the actual software development phase of the lifecycle where different views, or user interfaces, to the
data can be developed for different user types. These are just two of a whole host of techniques available to tackle
this problem. This concept of a view is similar to that of a 'semantic purpose’, which is described on page 22 of
Rumbaugh (both editions same page).
The importance of being aware of potential problems with differing views in the healthcare sector is discussed in:
Willcocks P L. Mark A L. (1989) IT systems implementation: Research findings from the [health care] public sector. J I T
[June] 92 – 103
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Introduction to UML
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Exercise 9. MCQs
1. Which of the following types of software (applications) is most suitable for developing UML class diagrams?
a. Desktop drawing package (e.g. Smartdraw)
b. Desktop publishing application to ease the use of textual explanations
c. Anything with drawing capabilities (e.g. Microsoft Word)
d. A CASE tool
e. A spreadsheet
Exercise 10. Different viewpoints
Describe what might be the main differences in viewpoints between some of the following:










community nurse
GP
clinical manager in a hospital
anaesthetist
day care coordinator
paediatrician
psychiatrist
microbiologist
director of finance in an acute trust
patient
You may want to devise some type of table to help you organise your thoughts.
7.7 Warning about the ‘is a Kind of’ misunderstanding
To start with, people are often confused about the connection between classes and instances thinking that an
instance “is a kind of” class. An example will help to make this clearer. Someone might say that for the class ANIMAL
instances in this case might be BIRD or HUMAN. This is not usually the case. The reason for this is because thinking
about the structure, that is what attributes and behaviour you might want to collect about BIRDs and HUMANs would
probably be different in several respects for each of them. Would you really want to collect information about the size
of wingspan for a HUMAN or the IQ of a particular bird? In other words the set of attributes and operations for each
is different.
Unfortunately it is not always as simple as this. Here is the argument for keeping BIRD and HUMAN as instances of
HUMAN. Suppose you were an antique dealer and just wished to collect information about the instances of ANIMAL
statue you had. In this case you would probably just want to record the number of ANIMAL statues you had rather
than be animal specific, information in which the amount and type would vary for each. In this situation you are happy
about keeping the same type of information about each of the statues regardless of what they represent, probably
just species name would do for your attribute name. The context dictates what class types you will find.
Lest consider another example. This time assume we have a class called ??? with the following 5 instances with some
of the attributes shown. You will notice that you can divide up the instances into two groups based upon the empty
attributes. It look like we need actually two classes
Class = ???
here one for men and one for women? However
First_name Bra size Dress size Inside leg Date of birth Waist size
we do have a certain level of commonality between
Mary
aa
2
01/02/45
60
them with the First_name, Date_of_birth and
waist_size attributes.
John
90
23/12/67
89
Dave
86
10/10/68
103
Philip
110
14/08/98
98
26/04/78
70
Anne
d
14
We will learn latter that this 'is a kind of' situation
can be very effectively modelled by using a concept
called inheritance in UML class diagrams. Much
more about this latter.
For now the take home message is each class in a UML diagram:
Has a DIFFERENT STRUCTURE (i.e. Different attributes and operations)
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Introduction to UML
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7.8 Tight coupling
From the above sections you will realise that each class has a distinct set of attributes and operations, not only it is
vitally important that each class is distinct from others in the model but the class must be a closely knit structure for
example a patient class should not have leakage from other classes in the model such as GP or APPOINTMENT in the
model below.
Exercise 11. Inappropriate attributes
Consider the following classes and mark the attributes you feel are inappropriate in each class.
Remember that the attributes in a class are those that define the class not aspects that may relate to it.
Model 1 - GP surgery
Model 2 Travel agency
7.9 Class diagrams and Databases
UML is often, BUT NOT ALWAYS used to develop computer systems and frequently these are databases. When people
first start developing databases they always make two fundamental errors. Firstly, they rush to a computer to play
with the DBMS (e.g. Access). Secondly, they believe they can create a perfect database by
Technical
Class Diagram
terminology:
specifying a model without creating a prototype of some sort.
=
Design Blueprint
Specify
(Data dictionary
database
Implement
It is vitally important to get the design right, but this involves many revisions resulting partly
from feedback from people using the actual database. For each iteration the Class diagram(s)
allow you to create a blueprint (model, specify, design, etc) of the database structure, and
the DBMS allows you to create (implement, develop, etc) the actual database structure.
In the diagram to the left, the data dictionary is shown as a half-way house between the
'high level' class model(s) and the actual database. Depending upon your inclination it is
often not necessary to produce a data dictionary as a detailed description of each attribute is
adequate; it is basically up to you and whomever you may be working with. (See Blaha &
Premerlani 1998 for more detail.)
Again I must reiterate Class diagrams are not only used to develop databases!
7.9.1 The Relationship between Classes/Instances to Databases
If we accept the object oriented view of the world, databases themselves are also simply a collection of
classes/instances. More specifically a table is simply a way of allowing the computer, via a piece of software called a
DBMS (Database Management System, e.g. Access), to
Class:
Database table
store these classes/instances. This all sounds rather
Table name = Patient:
Patient
Class name
abstract, so I will now provide a example.
ID
First name
Surname
DOB
Etc.
Attributes
Patient ID
First name
Surname
DOB
Sex
Address
Operations
See doctor
The diagram opposite demonstrates the relationship
between the class Patient and a DBMS table structure.
mypatient2:Patient
Class name becomes table name (not always)
Attributes in class model = fields in database
Patient instances:
The attributes in the class diagram become fields in a table
where the table name is the same as the class name.
Taking this one step further, a class instance is equivalent to a
record in a table in the database. Also at the top most levle the
complete ERD is called a schema which is comparable to the
complete UML class model.
Robin Beaumont robin@organplayers.co.uk
Id=214
fname=john
surname=smith
dob=01/01/55
gender=male
address=20 station st.
Doctorref=12345
…
…
mypatient1:Patient
Id=023
fname=Mary
surname=Allan
dob=21/11/65
gender=female
address=23 pink lane.
Doctorref=12345
…
…
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Database table
Table name = Patient:
ID
214
023
First name
John
Mary
Surname
Smith
Allan
DOB
01/01/55
21/11/65
Class Instances become table records
attribute values = data items in database
Etc.
Introduction to UML
part 1 - classes and instances
Exercise 12. Linking Classes and Instances to Databases
Spend a few minutes taking some of the classes / instances you have identified in the previous exercises indicate how
they might relate to tables, fields and records. It might help to create a picture similar to the ones on the previous
page.
7.9.2 Specifying data types
Fields in databases besides having a name also specify what type of data they store, for example it might be a number
of characters (called a string), a whole number (called an integer) or a true/false value
(called a Boolean) similarly in a uml class diagram you can specify the data type of individual
attributes providing an even greater degree of linkage between the UML class diagram and a
database structure.
7.9.3 Derived Attributes and Default values
Often in databases field (attribute) values are derived from other field (attribute) values and you can show this in UML
classes by using the forward slash(/) before the name, for
example say we have a derived attribute in the Patient class
called bmi (Body Mass Index) which is derived from two
other attributes in the class height and weight, the situation
opposite. Optionally you can add a note to the UML class
diagram to provide additional details, but I personally prefer
to add the detail to the narrative accompanying the diagram
as the diagram gets very cluttered with lots of notes. The
derived attribute does not necessarily use attributes from
within the class but can make use of attributes from others.
When a new record (instance) is created the actual value for each of the attributes is empty, however it is often useful
to set a default value for some of the attributes. In the example below we have two more attributes in the patient
class called dateRegistered data type date, and
isHypertensive with data type Boolean, for the
former attribute the default value is the date the
instance was created i.e. today and for the latter
attribute it is given the value, False indicating that
they are not hypertensive.
Obviously the default values can be overwritten, and
reasons for a default value should always be
considered carefully, for example in the above, is it
sensible for all new registered patients to be
considered to be normotensive, probably a better value would be empty or not known.
7.9.4 Enumerated types
From the above example it appears that what we need is really a isHypertensive
field/attribute that can take one of three values {yes, no, not known} you can
achieve this by defining what is known as an enumerated type. An enumerated
type allows us to specify a limited number of options that particular attribute/field
can take and you can think of it as a pick list. In the example opposite I have defined
a new enumerated type called hyp_options, and given it a default value of
'unknown'. The valid options for this new enumerated type are either specified
within the documentation accompanying the diagram or alternatively using a
special enumerate class with the name hyp_options in this example, personally I
prefer the first option as often you have a large number of enumerated types in a
class diagram and it can get very messy.
Robin Beaumont robin@organplayers.co.uk
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Introduction to UML
part 1 - classes and instances
7.10 Operations
So far we have not discussed the third section in each class in UML class
diagrams which specifies the behaviour of the class, its dynamic aspects. An
example is given opposite. Although clearly this aspect is very important,
discussion of it will be deferred to the chapters concerned with dynamic
modelling. However there is nothing stopping a modeller directly adding
operations (i.e. behaviours) when considering classes.
7.11 Summary
In this chapter we have focused on one particular aspect of UML class diagrams, the classes by considering:




historical aspects considering ERD's - the forerunner to UML class diagrams, + the development of the Object
Oriented Modelling approach accumulating in the creation of UML.
various stages one can go through to create a list of initial (candidate) classes, then applying various criteria
and naming standardisation. Consideration was also given to common problems related to class identification
along with the 'type of class' misunderstanding.
How classes and instances are inextricably linked
How classes relate to database structure. and the further specification of attributes in UML
I have reproduced the class identification/development method below for easy reference.:
1.
Identifying nouns and drawing up a list
2.
Removing:
3.
a. Redundant classes (e.g. synonyms)
b. Irrelevant classes
c. Vague classes
d. Classes that are really attributes
e. Multiple Roles amalgamated into a single class
f. Implementation information
Adding classes due to homonyms
4.
Considering Reingruber & Gregory 1994’s guidelines creating a table with the following columns:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
Initial class type name
Unique
Singular noun
Self-explanatory
UPPER CASE
The _ character
Not an individual object
(Not more than one concept)
Documented
Final class type name
We could have also used a more interactive approach
with clients in a workshop environment, and developed
UML class diagrams with them.
After a few MCQs we will move onto the second aspect
of UML class diagrams, the relationships. If you feel like
one this would be a good time to take a break.
We have now completed our investigations into UML classes, however clearly these classes must relate to one
another is a way analogous to the way tables do in a database structure, which will be investigated in the next
chapter.
For now go back to the start, look at the mind map on the front page and also the list of learning outcomes, see how
much you have managed to learnt. Also remember there are my Youtube videos and practical Case tool tutorials to
reinforce this knowledge.
Robin Beaumont robin@organplayers.co.uk
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Introduction to UML
part 1 - classes and instances
Exercise 13. MCQs
1. Which one of the following best describes the technique used to identify classes in a narrative?
a. Identification of verbs, the application of various criteria and standards (eg naming conventions etc) to refine
the list and then the creation of a list of appropriately named classes
b. Identification of nouns then the application of ISO standards to create a list of appropriately named classes
c. Identification of verbs then the application of standards (eg naming conventions etc) to create a list of
appropriately named classes
d. Identification of nouns, the application of various criteria (e.g. Reingruber & Gregory 1994’s) and standards
(e.g. naming conventions etc) to refine the list and then the creation of a list of appropriately named
classes
e. Identification of a few important nouns then the application of standards (e.g. naming conventions etc) to
create a list of appropriately named classes
2. Which of the following criteria are true (choose three)?
a. Attribute names must always be unique for a particular model.
b. Class names must be unique for a particular model.
c. Attribute names must be unique for a particular class within a model.
d. A class should only express one concept.
e. Class names should be either singular or plural nouns.
8 References
Alavi M Wetherbe J C 1991 Mixed prototyping and data modelling for information system design. IEEE software May
87 – 91. One of very few articles which uses an experimental design in place of the purely non experimental case
study, to assess various methodologies.
Bennett S, Skelton J, Lunn K, 2005 UML: Schaum’s outlines. ISBN 0-07-710741-1 £10.99 [A much improved second
edition – no CD but what can you expect at this price]
Blaha M Premerlani W 1998 Instance-oriented Modelling and design for Database applications; Includes UML.
Prentice Hall
Blaha M, Rumbaugh J, 2005 Instance-Oriented Modelling and Design with UML (International Edition ISBN:
0131968599) Prentice Hall An e-book version is available (at: http://www.safarix.com/ ISBN: 013132894-8 You can see
quite a lot of the book from the free review sections.
Checkland P 1981 Systems thinking: systems practice. John Wiley An excellent introduction to the history of systems
analysis as well as introducing Checkland's own 'soft systems' methodology.
Checkland P Scholes J 1990 Soft Systems Methodology in action John Wiley. This book includes a case study from the
NHS.
Date C J. 1995 (6th ed.) An introduction to database systems
Fowler M Scott K 1998 UML distilled: Applying the standard instance language. Addison Wesley
Newman M. Rosenberg D. 1985 Systems analysts and the politics of organisational control OMEGA int. j. of mgmt sci.,
13 (5) 393 - 406
Open University 1993 Relational Database Systems M866 (Five books; Introduction to database technology, The
Relational Modal, Normalisation, Using SQL, SQL database management) [These are excellent resources with many
exercises and clear concise explanations].
Pender A Thomas 2002 UML weekend crash course. Wiley publishing inc.
Reingruber Michael C. Gregory William W 1994 The Data Modelling Handbook John Wiley & Sons Chichester
Rumbaugh J, Blaha M, Premerlani W et al 1991 Instance-Oriented Modelling and Design. Prentice Hall. See Blaha,
Rumbaugh J, 2005
Robin Beaumont robin@organplayers.co.uk
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Introduction to UML
part 1 - classes and instances
Schmuller Joseph 2004 Sams Teach Yourself UML in 24 hrs ISBN 0-672-3260-40 Third edition. [This new edition has a
CD containing a pdf version of the book and a Case Tool called Poseidon (no time limit). Costs around £20]
Tsang C H K, Lau C S W, Leung Y K, 2005 Instance-Oriented Technology ISBN: 0071240462 McGraw-Hill Education
[rather overly concerned with programming for this course however it does come with a CD of the case tool VP-UML
but the book is not on the disk]
Joubert M The Use of Conceptual Graphs for Knowledge Bases, Customisation and Actual Data Organisation,
Unpublished project working paper (AIM NUCLEUS)
9 Web Links
Past student's recommendations:
Class and sequence diagram guidelines and more:
http://www.agilemodeling.com/style/classDiagram.htm
http://www.agilemodeling.com/artifacts/sequenceDiagram.htm
10 Appendix - OMT
Types of Association Based on Fowler & Scott 1997 p59
UML
OMT
1
A
B
Exactly one
A
B
An A is always associated with one B
0..1
A
B
Zero or one
(optional)
A
B
An A is always associated with zero or one B
*
A
B Zero or more
(many)
B
A
An A is always associated with zero or more B
1..*
B
A
Not in UML
2.0
A
One or more
1+
A
B
An A is always associated with one or more B
2..4,6..8
2..4,6..8
B
Numerical
range(s)
B
A
An A is always associated with 2 to 4 or 6 to 8 B
A
{ordered}
B
ordered
A
{ordered}
B
An A is always associated with ordered B
A
B
Aggregation
(is made up of)
B
A
An A is made up of B
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